Diaeta Naturalis

Inspired by his travels in Northern Arcadia, Linnaeus began to work on Diaeta Naturalis not too long after his return. It was to be a collection of medical commonplaces and aphorisms, and in the main amounted to one long celebration of the Sami and their happy lives. Its stated date is 1733, but it was in preparation for at least five years—printing took longer still: 1957. It is a medical thesis in the Hippocratic tradition, with emphasis placed on the importance of the peaceful state of mind that was under threat from a new social order. The criticism was